October 2021 Minutes
Aslackby Parish Council Meetings
Minutes from meeting held on 25th October 2021
Present:
Parish Councillors
Cllr John Pickard (JP)
Cllr Katie Long (KL)
Cllr Malcolm Dodds (MD)
Cllr Rachel Stevenson (RS)
Cllr R Miller (RM)
James Leach – Clerk (JL)
District Councillors
County Councillors
County Cllr Martin Hill (MH)
Press
James Leach
1 Apologies – Cllr Brian Wilkinson (BW), District Councillor Dr P Moseley (PM)
Absent – none
2 The Chairman welcomed all present.
3 2 members of the public were present. – Sue Roberts (SR) and Michael Thompson (MT)
3a The Chairman welcomed all present and asked MT if he would like to speak.
MT introduced himself & thanked the PC for allowing him to speak. He explained that he had been approached by the Conant Estate n January, to do a feasibility study to look at future planning & landscaping proposals for the village. The estate owns a lot of land and property within Aslackby & the surrounding area and had asked MT to approach the PC with proposals on how they could develop their land and property over the next 20 years. Aslackby had been identified by SKDC as a “small village suitable for growth”. Some of the items being suggested were:
• Renovating Temple Farm & possibly re-instating the original tower.
• Converting Barns at Temple Farm into residences.
• Building new homes along the edge of the field next to the Cemetery and the farm track leading down to the abandoned barns.
• Creating a public car park for the Cemetery, and possibly the Factory, on the farm track mentioned above.
• Providing a children’s safe play area in the field below Temple Farm. This would not contain play equipment but would just be a grass area for children to play in.
• Converting the disused barn at The Laurels (Bay House) into workshops.
• Building a new Community Centre and up to 8 affordable homes or Exception Housing, where there would be a number of conditions that would need to be satisfied in order to purchase them.
• Possibly re-locating the Village Hall to, or building a new Community Centre within the boundary of the village rather than being on a very busy main A15.
• Putting allotments in the field by The Laurels and providing a circular walk which would connect with the rest of the village.
• The woodland area at the top of Kirkby Underwood Road to be converted in to a nature/green space where families could congregate.
• New roads
A number of questions were raised, RM informed MT of the sewage pump station near the ford which was already operating at capacity and would certainly need an upgrade if the plans were to go ahead. JL raised the issue of Liability Insurance if the play area and green spaces were to go ahead.
SR raised concerns that she was not sure that some of the proposals would make the village attractive to young families due to the fact that apart from a pub and Village Hall, there were no real amenities within the village.
RM raised concerns that, like elsewhere across the country it would attract well off families to move in to the village and purchase 2nd homes, which would then remain empty for a large part of the year. MT said he didn’t think this would happen if the “exceptions” were drawn up correctly.
MT said that there was still a lot of preliminary work to be done and all he wished to do was make the PC aware of the possibilities. The time scales would still need to be agreed but you were looking at a 20-year plan. MT said he had to report back to the Estate to give the PC’s reaction.
He also stated that, if the PC agreed in principle, he would then like to arrange a public consultation meeting where the whole village were invited to have their say.
At this point MH arrived and MT gave a brief explanation as to the proposed road changes and additions.
In principle the PC were not opposed to the plans but stressed that before a firm decision could be made more detailed plans would need to be presented followed by a public consultation.
MT thanked the PC for their time and said he would be in touch.
4 Declarations of Interest – MD, RM, and JP all expressed a declaration of interest in the above proposals due to the fact that the farmed and/or owned property/land next to the proposed developments.
5 Minutes of the Last Meeting – Proposed by KL and seconded by JP.
6 Matters Arising
All matters from the last meeting, except those listed below, had been dealt with and would be noted under the relevant headings below.
• BW still had not repaired the sunken grave in the Cemetery.
Action: BW
• JL and JP had not yet reviewed the list of Policies sent by LALC but will endeavour to do this before the next meeting.
Action: JL/JP
7 Planning
No new planning applications had been received since the last meeting but a few decisions had been made.
• Mr C Pay – single storey extension at Westfield Lodge – this had been granted.
• Mr Baxter – new semi-detached properties opposite the Church. Planning to move the location of the houses to where they were built rather than where they should have been built. These had been built incorrectly approx. 10 feet further forward than where they should have been built. SKDC planning had approved the revised plans without any consultation with the PC, despite saying they would consult.
• Tom Shaw – Sewage disposal for two new properties on The Dovecote. The revised plans had been approved and building work had now commenced.
8 Cemetery
There have been no internments since the last meeting.
MD said he would speak to L Fisher re the Cemetery hedge as he had not done this yet. JL will put this on the Agenda for the next meeting.
Action: MD/JL
9 Neighbourhood Watch
Mr L Fisher had been the victim of a break in at his Storage Facility and had lost a large amount of gardening equipment. The Police had been informed.
JL had approached the Police about the reported drug dealing in Aveland Close & the abandoned vehicle outside the Church. The local Police Support office wished to attend the PC meeting in December so hopefully an update could be given then. JL will put this on the Agenda for December’s meeting.
Action: JL/JP
The abandoned vehicle had been removed.
10 Highways
A number of Highways issues were still outstanding and MH gave an update.
• MH said some work had been done on clearing the gulley’s and inspection chambers on the A15, but there was still further work to be done. He will follow this up.
Action: MH
• Clearing out the gulley’s at the new head walls just as you leave the village towards Low Park. This was omitted from the meeting so JL will put it on the Agenda for the next meeting.
Action: JL
• Response from Highways re possibility of putting up speed signs “Children playing” – still outstanding. JL had emailed Highways but had not had a response, he will chaise this up.
Action: JL
• The Laughton Road junction and the whole of Laughton Road in general were still a major concern. MH said he had inspected the junction and Laughton Road and would get on to this as a matter of priority and it should have been repaired properly.
Action: MH
• Missing Aslackby sign on A15. MH said this was ongoing as it was being looked at with regards altering the speed limit on the A15 and would be done as part of this plan. He also stated that moving the 30mph sign near the factory would also be included in this plan.
• JL informed MH about the numerous potholes on Laughton Road. Many of these were now fixed following a claim against LCC, however there were still a number that were outstanding. MH said he would follow this up.
Action: JL
JL gave an update on the issue re parking that was raised by members of the public at the last meeting. MH said that the only possible way that this may be remedied is if a request was made to Highways to put single/double yellow lines. JL said he would inform the resident who had made the initial complaint and put it on the Agenda to discuss at the next meeting. MH did say that even if a request was made there was no guarantee that it would be accepted and it would be far better if the neighbours could sort it out amicable between themselves.
JL said he had received an email from District Councillor Dr Peter Moseley re the parking issue and he had forwarded it on to their housing Dept. He would provide an update as soon as he had one.
JL said that the hedge at the entrance to Temple Farm had now been cut.
JL stated that the trees on the green were due to be cut on 9th of December. This would involve a temporary road closure as and when required. JL will ask to put this in the village Aslackby Facebook Page and website.
Action: JL
JL asked MH whose responsibility it was to clear the path from the village up to the Village Hall. MH said that this was SKDC;s responsibility and that he should contact them as part of their Big Clean to get it done. JL said he would do this.
Action: JL
RM asked MH re the chevrons that used to be on the sharp bends towards Millthorpe. MH said there was a spate of thefts of such signs and they had not been replaced. RM said there had been a number of accidents on the bend and he had pulled a number of cars out of the hedge and believed they should be replaced.
11 Finance
The latest balance in the cheque account is £ 1009.60 and the deposit account is £9933.57.
JL said he had received a Tax Refund from HMRC for £166.40. He had also received a remittance advice from LCC Highways iro their contribution to the grass cutting. This was for £516.44. This, had not yet been paid into the account but should be by the next meeting.
JL said he had received a number of Invoices since the last meeting which he had now paid.
• LALC Website Invoice - £126.00
• BDG Mowing - £250.00 – This included an amount for cutting the two footpaths.
• Wave Utilities - £13.53
• Clerks Wages - £1084 – Thus included the backdated pay award from last year.
• Clerks Expenses - £57.80
• Clerks Tax & NI - £271.00
JL had spoken to BDG Mowing Contractors as he had realised whilst going through invoices that they had charged twice for the same cut. James had apologised for this and said that due to his error we would not receive an invoice for the final cut which had been carried out last week. He also asked if we would be cutting our own grass next year. JL had informed him yes and that he wound contact him in the new year with regards this.
JL said that at the next meeting in December there may need to be a discussion about next years Precept as the PC had incurred a number of additional expenses this year which may need to be added to the Precept going forward. These included:
• Additional footpath maintenance - £100.00
• Website maintenance - £180.00
12 Correspondence
All correspondence had been dealt with via email since the last meeting in October. The only needing attention are listed below:
• JL had received confirmation that 3 applicants in the village had been successful in obtaining free tress from LCC. These will be delivered in January 2022.
• JL said he had received a number of emails from various sources re the adoption of the telephone box. He said that, although the initial proposal had been to turn the box into an exchange bookstore, he had now received a number of emails from the Aveland History Group asking to put stained glass in to the phone box. JL showed a copy of an email he had received to SR who had put forward the original proposal re the book store. A few comments were made and RM also brought up the fact that the phone box was still in use. As a result, JL proposed to add this as an Agenda item for the next meeting as the proposal was still under consultation and there was no guarantee yet that it would go ahead. This was accepted.
Action: JL
• JL had been approached by a company called Cloudy IT who wished to help broadcast future PC meetings on the Web. After a brief discussion it was agreed this was not a service the PC wished to engage. JL will notify Cloudy IT.
Action: JL
• Came & Company, who administer the PC Insurance had now changed its name to Gallagher. There would be no change to Terms & Conditions.
• JL had received information the Queens Pageant Master re the lighting of Beacons for the Queens Platinum Jubilee on 2nd June 2022. This will be discussed nearer the time but it is unlikely we will do anything as we do not have a Beacon.
• JL had received an email from the Local Community Crime Prevention Officer requesting that she be able to attend our next meeting in order to discuss the Precept Survey which needed to be completed by the end of December. JL will add this as an Agenda item for the next meeting and invite her to attend.
Action: JL
• JL had receive an email from LCC Highways offering free salt and salt bags for the winter. JL had already responded to say yes to this offer. They will be stored by the sand etc which the PC received for flood prevention.
13 SKDC Update
No one was available from SKDC to give an update but PM had sent an email with an update re the local parking issue, this had already been discussed under Highways.
14 Lincolnshire County Council Update
The main update from LCC was around Highways issues and the local parking issue. These had already been dealt with in previous sections.
15 A.O.B
JL asked MD if he could clarify SR’s attendance at the meeting. MD said that SR had expressed an interest in being co-opted onto the PC.
JL asked SR if this was the case, to which SR replied “yes”
RM asked SR if she was interested what she would be able to bring to the PC. SR gave her reasons and explained that she had lived in the village now for a number of years and had helped out at a number of local and village activities and therefore felt she could offer quiet a lot to the PC.
JL asked the PC members if they were happy for SR to be Co-opted onto the PC. JP said he had spoken to SR about this and was more than happy, as were the rest of the PC. JL therefore asked for someone to propose SR to be Co-opted onto the PC and for someone else to second the proposal.
MD proposed that SR be co-opted onto the PC and JP seconded this proposal. As there were no objections SR was duly co-opted onto the PC. JL said he would notify Democratic Services at SKDC and drop round the relevant forms that SR would be required to sign.
16 Date of next meeting Monday 06th December 2021 – 7.00 pm at the Village Hall. Meeting closed at 20.40pm